Info on treatment for Vitiligo, what is Vitiligo, cause Vitiligo

How can we treat vitiligo very fast?
(11 Feb 2009)

There is no fast way to treat a condition such as vitiligo; any treatment that works will take time to show its effects, and you will need to be patient. If you are in a hurry, you will certainly find "quick cures", but as with most diseases, quick cures do not work. In fact, they are often harmful, so not only do you spend money on something that does not work, you spend money on a product that harms you.

Vitiligo, sometimes known as leukoderma, is a skin condition that involves loss of skin pigmentation. Apart from this, there are no other symptoms (except for uveitis in some cases, an inflammation of the eye, which can sometimes be very serious). Patients do develop sensitivity to sunlight, but this is simply because of the loss of pigmentation of skin, and is not really an additional symptom. As you probably know, the skin pigment melanin does not only give our skin color, its function is to block the harmful UV rays in sunlight.

Treatment of your condition will depend on its severity, which is why you should ideally visit a doctor who will be able to assess your problem and suggest a course of action. If the condition is mild - pigmentation is lost only at the extremities, and the white patches do not seem to be spreading - then in many cases, no treatment is recommended. In fact, in some cases, pigmentation starts to return on its own after a few years. Exposure to sunlight can sometimes trigger the melanocytes (pigment producing cells in the skin) to start functioning again, however this is slightly risky, as your skin is more susceptible to sun damage without the protective pigment. In addition, if you develop a tan on the normal part of your skin, the white patches will be more prominent in contrast.

If treatment is needed, most doctors prescribe a corticosteroid cream, which sometimes helps repigment skin, especially if treatment starts early enough. A number of phototherapy and UV treatments are also available today, in combination with certain drugs. These treatments are of course to be taken only with a medical prescription and under medical supervision.

Patients who find that none of the available treatments for repigmentation work often decide to go in for complete depigmentation. This procedure removes the melanin all over your body, and is irreversible - the benefit is that rather than having white patches, your body is now evenly colored.